San Diego Symphony 2017-18 season mixes old and new with flair

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers will perform a newly comissioned work as part of the San Diego Symphony's 2017-2018 season.

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers will perform a newly comissioned work as part of the San Diego Symphony's 2017-2018 season. (Photo by Josep Molina)

Beth Wood

For the San Diego Symphony’s 2017-2018 season, six guest conductors return from last season, while three will grace the podium for the first time. Does that up the ante in the music-director guessing game that many devoted symphony observers have been playing?

With longtime Maestro Jahja Ling conducting his final concerts as the orchestra’s music director this May, speculation abounds.

Being without a music director doesn’t mean the symphony is a rudderless ship. To the contrary.

From seasoned performers to up-and-coming soloists, from treasured masterpieces to recently composed works, the upcoming schedule of the San Diego Symphony is as impressive as the current one — if not more so.

Much of the credit for this goes to Martha Gilmer, the San Diego Symphony’s savvy CEO since October 2014.

“A music director shapes the sound of the orchestra: how they listen to one another and how they work together as ensemble,” she said recently in her Symphony Towers office downtown.

“Season programs I’ve spent my life putting together,” explained Gilmer, who was previously with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 35 years. “Music directors have to connect to the audience and musicians. We have all these conductors, and the orchestra is absorbing different points of views. It’s like a doctoral thesis in music interpretation.”

It may be hard for some to heed Gilmer’s advice not to read anything into the upcoming guest-conductor lineup. The lack of female conductors, for example, points only to problems of availability, she said. And she cautioned people from reading too much into the fact that esteemed conductor Edo de Waart is opening and closing next season, as well as guesting in March 2018.

Both orchestra and audience should consider this is an ongoing process, Gilmer suggested.

“Edo is one of the preeminent conductors today. He has directed many orchestras and companies,” she observed. “I feel it’s important to have someone of his stature, someone who has an obvious relationship of mutual respect with the orchestra.

Photo by Jesse Willems

Acclaimed conductor Edo de Waart will lead the San Diego Symphony in three programs in its upcoming season.

Acclaimed conductor Edo de Waart will lead the San Diego Symphony in three programs in its upcoming season. (Photo by Jesse Willems)

“Choosing a music director is not like hiring a football coach. The relationships don’t have to be highly defined, like they are in sports. It’s more about the ongoing understanding between director and orchestra.

“The process has been exciting and a number of people are enjoying it. I get emails and letters from audience members responding to conductors. The end point will take time to reveal itself.”

Tradition with new ingredients

The upcoming Jacobs Masterworks season will welcome Jahja Ling as its conductor laureate in April and May of 2018. In addition to leading works by Rachmaninoff and Offenbach, he will celebrate one of his mentors, Leonard Bernstein. The season finale, conducted by de Waart, will also honor the acclaimed American composer, whose 100th birthday is next year, with the overture to “Candide.”

While many beloved classics are set for the upcoming season, 14 classical works will be played by the orchestra here for the first time. By coincidence, 14 artists will make their San Diego Symphony debuts. Aural choices abound, in keeping with the season’s theme of “Find Your Music,” and mixing the familiar with the new.

“I like to use the analogy of cooking,” Gilmer said. “It’s good to be rooted in traditional things, but you want experimentation in the kitchen or it becomes routine. In our daily lives, variation and innovation are important to keep things fresh.

“After hearing something new, we can come back to the familiar and hear them in a different way.”

Photo by Diane Bondareff/AP

Jazz great Wynton Marsalis' 2016 violin concerto will be performed during the San Diego Symphony's upcoming season,

Jazz great Wynton Marsalis' 2016 violin concerto will be performed during the San Diego Symphony's upcoming season, (Photo by Diane Bondareff/AP)

Its world premiere, in February, will feature the orchestra’s associate conductor, Sameer Patel. That weekend will mark his first time leading a Jacob Masterworks concert.

Patel will conduct the orchestra in the multimedia Beyond the Score, which will animatedly explain Rachmaninoff’s “Isle of the Dead” at the beginning of the weekend. He will then lead the orchestra in works by Liszt, Sibelius and Schoenberg.

“Every composer has to find their voice. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 was written during a time of doubt. It was World War I and Sibelius didn’t know which direction he was going, but found the confidence to create the piece. That’s what draws me to it. It goes hand in hand with finding your music.”

For Gilmer, the combination of classics and new pieces with a wide variety of artists — as well as returning and debuting conductors — is a natural progression.

“Nothing is too much for this orchestra,” she said, smiling. “They can climb mountains!”

San Diego Symphony’s 2017-18 season

In addition to the jam-packed Jacob Masterworks season, the orchestra has several series and one enormous festival scheduled. City Lights will showcase sophistication with such guests as Manhattan Transfer and Audra McDonald. For the Fox Theatre Film Series, the orchestra will perform the scores to such big-screen hits as “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” Here’s what the rest of the 2017-18 season holds in store.

Nationally celebrated percussionist and UC San Diego music professor Steven Schick will curate the San Diego Symphony's January, 2018, "A Festival of Rhythm" concert series. (Photo by Hiroyuki Ito/The New York Times)

“It’s About Time: A Festival of Rhythm. Sound. And Place.”

The third annual January festival will be curated by multitalented University of California San Diego music professor Steven Schick. The monthlong festival centers on percussion and will be larger than the previous two editions. It will be held at multiple venues and feature recently forged collaborations with several local musical organizations.

“Every culture has a distinct sound, rhythm or pulse,” San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer said. “We have such diverse communities here, and percussion is a way to connect people. I found rhythm and pulse in Steve. He is the epitome of that – he is such a pivotal figure in San Diego.”

Family Concerts

This afternoon series combines education with entertainment.

“I have such a passion for doing the family series. All of the concerts will be great,” said San Diego Symphony associate conductor Sameer Patel, who will conduct all four. “The first one, in October, is ‘1001 Symphonic Tales.’ Rather than presenting several small works, we’ll break down one long piece and put it back together. It will be a multimedia presentation and involve community members. Another concert is ‘Beat Quest,’ which is inspired by the January festival.”

“I’m aided by (associate director of artistic planning) Megan Swan on the jazz series,” Gilmer noted. “It has been very successful. Gil’s a great convener.”

Chamber Music Series

The chamber series will highlight the talents of the orchestra’s musicians and feature internationally acclaimed artists. Wu Man, who resides in San Diego when she’s not touring the globe, is renowned for playing the pipa, a four-stringed Chinese lute. Other guests will include Parisian pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Romanian cellist Andrei Ioniță and American pianist Orli Shaham, who will be part of the Bernstein Centennial celebration.

Tickets: Classical subscription packages, which go on sale today, range from $72 to $1,344 each. Single tickets for the 2017-18 season go on sale Aug. 20. In addition, the San Diego Symphony is introducing three new mini-subscription options. More information is available at sandiegosymphony.org.

Jacobs Masterworks 2017-18 season

Dates connected with an “and” indicate that the middle date is devoted to another series. For example, Oct. 27 and 29 are Jacobs Masterworks concerts while Oct. 28 is a concert from a different series — Fox Theatre Film Series.